{"id":488,"date":"2011-01-05T22:24:46","date_gmt":"2011-01-06T03:24:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stlydias.org\/blog\/?p=488"},"modified":"2011-01-06T15:53:41","modified_gmt":"2011-01-06T20:53:41","slug":"community-meeting-report-from-emily","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/2011\/01\/community-meeting-report-from-emily\/","title":{"rendered":"Community Meeting Report from Emily"},"content":{"rendered":"

January, 2011<\/em><\/p>\n

Dear Lydians,<\/p>\n

In preparation for our Community Meeting this coming Saturday, here\u2019s a synopsis of what I\u2019ve been up to and what I\u2019ve seen us up to together in the last quarter at St. Lydia\u2019s!<\/p>\n

What I\u2019ve been up to: <\/em><\/p>\n

The few months have been a rich and busy time for me as I\u2019ve dug into my coursework at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia.\u00a0 My first course this year was entitled, \u201cMarriage, Families, and Relationships.\u201d\u00a0 The course looked at family systems theory, which sees individuals as part of a larger system of family, be that a family of origin, a workplace, or a congregation.\u00a0 The course asked me to spend a lot of time looking at the family system I was raised in and reflecting on how that experience informs how I behave in a congregational system.\u00a0 It\u2019s been really illuminating; I\u2019d like to share some of the theory with all of you at our retreat this summer.<\/p>\n

In addition, I was just accepted to the Clinical Pastoral Education Program (where I\u2019ll work as a hospital chaplain) at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital here in New York.\u00a0 The summer program will give me a chance to work with families in crisis in a hospital setting.\u00a0 It will also allow me to fulfill that particular requirement for ordination.<\/p>\n

Balancing the various demands on my time and energy continues to be a challenge, but I find that repeating, what we need is here,<\/em> helps quite a bit!<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve focused much of my attention on crafting worship that is cohesive and fitting for the seasons we\u2019ve been celebrating.\u00a0 Our worship practices feel more deeply rooted to me, and the congregation seems to own worship more fully.\u00a0 There\u2019s room to flex and stretch, and there\u2019s a greater sense of nuance.\u00a0 Though we\u2019ve seen fewer newcomers the last few months, I sense that this is part of the natural ebb and flow we\u2019ll continue to experience as we grow.<\/p>\n

I instituted our first Community Conversation in December.\u00a0 I hope that these conversations (which will take place about once a month, except months when we have a Community Meeting) will give us an opportunity to dig into rich theological questions about who we are and how we\u2019re doing what we\u2019re doing at St. Lydia\u2019s.<\/p>\n

What I see us up to together:<\/em><\/p>\n

The months of October and November have afforded us the opportunity to reflect on our identity in two important ways.<\/p>\n

First, we began to engage in an important conversation around the possibility of affiliating with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).\u00a0 In October, Pastor Phil, Daniel, and I preached about the connections between the local church and the wider church.\u00a0 We also discussed the matter at our Community Meeting.\u00a0 In December, we were able to meet and converse with Bishop Robert Rimbo in the context of worship.\u00a0 I\u2019ve been pleased to be in conversation with many of you as you consider and discern what this relationship could mean for our community.<\/p>\n

I see a relationship with the ELCA as a fruitful possibility for us.\u00a0 I\u2019m seeking a formal connection to the wider church that connects us, feeds us, and supports us, as well as asks us to contribute to and support the denomination.\u00a0 I\u2019m also pleased to see the community asking really good, smart questions about this relationship, and being intentional and wise as we move forward.\u00a0 This is a good thing!<\/p>\n

Second, we had our first Community Conversations on the subject of welcome and safety.\u00a0 Keeping our doors wide open is not always an easy or comfortable experience; at times it can be unnerving.\u00a0 The conversation gave us a chance to think together about how best to keep the community \u201csafe enough\u201d to do the work or worship together.\u00a0 I wrote in more detail about the conversation on the blog.\u00a0 I\u2019m in the midst of coordinating with a deacon in the Episcopal Church in Connecticut to come and do a training with the entire community on mental illness and the church, especially as it relates to the homeless community.<\/p>\n

I am reminded in this time that wrestling <\/em>is a fundamental part of our identity as a church.\u00a0 We are here to wrestle, with God, with ideas, with questions, with one another.\u00a0 Sometimes we might be inclined to back away from this difficult task.\u00a0 After all, it\u2019s strenuous, and it pushes us.\u00a0 But wrestling allows us to work through questions together that help us discover who we are.\u00a0 Wrestling means sweating and straining, but after each round, we feel satisfied and fulfilled. It\u2019s part of the task set before us.<\/p>\n

Love,<\/p>\n

Emily<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

January, 2011 Dear Lydians, In preparation for our Community Meeting this coming Saturday, here\u2019s a synopsis of what I\u2019ve been up to and what I\u2019ve seen us up to together in the last quarter at St. Lydia\u2019s! What I\u2019ve been up to: The few months have been a rich and busy time for me as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=488"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":521,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/488\/revisions\/521"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stlydiasliturgy.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}